Living in Grace
Notes
Transcript
Recap
Recap
Two weeks ago Monty presented the message where Paul was before the tribunal and in front of Cesar of Rome. He was released from prison after the trial
From there Paul got on a ship and we learned from Tony all of the difficulties that Paul went through including the shipwreck, being stranded at sea and how God saved all the men on that boat.
After Paul is saved he spends about a year or two on that island, the island of Malta, which is still around today and can be visited.
After that a series of events happen and Paul is once again in prison which leads us to our passage in Philemon. While in prison Paul meets a young man named Onesimus, they become friends and Paul shares the gospel with Onesimus and he repents of his sin and turns to Christ.
While they get to know each other Paul finds out that Onesimus was slave and he ran away from his master and before he ran away it sounds like he stole something from his master.
Paul knows the old testament and there's a verse in Deuteronomy that talks about this kind of situation
“You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him.
So Paul should keep hom safe because he is a run away slave.
But Roman law required Paul to return Onesimus to his master.
So Paul is in an interesting place. But the story gets even deeper. It turns out that Paul not only knows the master that Onesimus ran away from, that man was also lead to Christ by Paul himself and is currently leading a house church.
We’ll see who’s paying attention, Im going to ask your thoughts how you would handle this situation.
So an Overview of whats happening in the passage
Paul currently a prisoner
Onesimus a runaway slave who stole from his master Philemon but is then lead to Christ by Paul while they meet in prison
Philemon, a slave owner, was previously lead to Christ by Paul and currently leading a house church. His slave stole from him and ran away.
Q: Question for everyone here. You know both people, led both to Jesus, love both of them,. here is hurt and wrong being done. God’s law tells you to do one thing, the law of the land tells you something opposite. What would you do in this situation, if you were in Pauls shoes?
Let see what Paul does do. I WILL READ
Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Q: What does Paul call himself here?
He calls himself a prisoner for Christ but like I mentioned earlier he is also an actual prisoner at this time.
And we see in the introduction that this letter in directed to Philemon, to his wife Apphia, to Archippus a fellow believer and the entire church that meets at the home.
Paul not only writing to the person who is involved but the others around Philemon who know what happened and can hopefully point him in the right direction.
Lets keep going
I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.
Q: What does Paul say about Philemon?
He has love and faith toward Jesus and all the Saints
Who are the saints?
Romans 1:7 (ESV)
To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:
This isnt just for those in Rome, he says this to the Corinthians, Colossians, Ephesians etc. All of us as believers are called to be saints.
Paul tells Philemon that he recognizes his love for all believers.
What is Pauls prayer in verse 6?
and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.
The sharing here isnt what we think about like, hey share your testimony.
The word being used is koinonia, the fuller understaing is found in Acts
And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
We know this is how Philemon was to a certain extent because he offered his home to be used as a house church.
Q: Paul found joy and comfort in Philemon’s display of love.What do you think about Paul describing a slave owner as being loving, and praised for their faith?
Its interesting to hear, lets see how this pans out, in the next verses Paul will now be making a request to Philemon.
I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord.
Q: How does Paul refer to Onesimus?
V10 His child, Paul became his father, spiritually speaking, leading him in the way.
v12 “My very heart”
Why would Paul send someone he cares so much about to the very place that he ran away from?
Often if a runaway slave was captured the penalty could have been death. Why is Paul doing this?
In verse 13
I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel,
Q: What did Onesimus just run away from? He ran away from serving Philemon to freely choosing to serve Paul?
What is going on here?
Slavery
Slavery
Lets pause here for a minute. It sure looks like the Bible is endorsing slavery. Anyone want to comment?
Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
Slaves were to be avenged if mistreated
“When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged.
Slaves were to be freed if mistreated
“When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth.
Slaves were to be give given rest
Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.
Slaves were able to inherit their masters possessions if they didnt have children. Eleazer server Abraham and if Abraham didnt have children then he would have inherted all of Abraham’s belongings.
“Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.
“If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
In short, what the Bible permitted was not abuse. Why didnt God just disobey it completely? Because it was an broken institution that could not be avoided given the poverty that existed. More people would have suffered if it was completely banned at that time
Think of it like this, slaves sometimes had better conditions than the poor who were “free” The free people didn't necessarily live a better life with full time jobs or places to sleep.
My thoughts are like this,if I was a slave from another country and I heard about a religion that had all of these right that their God commanded them to treat slaves with right and dignity I would want to server the people who obeyed that kind of God.
Back to the passage with Philemon
Paul continues talking about Onesimus-
For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self.
Q: How does Paul expect to have Philemon respond to Onesimus coming back?
Not as a slave but as a brother, to have the koinania that we read about in Acts, the breaking of bread and fellowship with another believer. Which is the trait that Paul praised Philemon for having.
Not only that, to put anything that Onesimus owes to Pauls debts.
Q: Why would he not just ask Philemon to forgive the debt. Why is Paul asking to pay the debt
Paul is in prison for crying out loud and he is old by now, how could he afford to pay this price?
What he;s saying is “I dont want there to be any stumbling block to you guys being able to reconcile”
Its easy to ask someone to pay a price themselves, its a whole other thing to pay a price for another person.
In our own lives, If we see a difficult situation between two believers, the default response is “I dont want to get involved”
Paul flips that and says, this reconciliation is so important the I am willing to pay the price that someone else is responsible for so there are no hard feelings.
And if I had you guys take one thing away from this lesson its that.
You have been wronged by someone in life, you have gone through hurt, pain, disappointment and regret. God is asking you to forgive that person.
Not only that, like in this story if you see two people, especially two believers that are fighting, have a disagreement or something is happening and you know that there is something that you can do to heal that relationship even if it means paying the price for someone else’s wrongdoing you probably should.
Why would you ever do something like that, whats the benefit?
The reason you would do that is because you have wronged God yourself and someone by the name of Jesus Christ stepped in to pay for your sin when he didnt have to so that you can be reconciled with God.
The story of Philemon is the story of the gospel
The gospel is the answer to the problems of the world, be it sin, slavery, famine, poverty. Thats what the world has needed from the beginning of time.